The Edwardsville Liberty eighth-grade girls basketball team poses with its regional championship trophy on Friday after beating East St. Louis Lincoln in the IESA Class 8-4A Regional 16 title game.

The Edwardsville Liberty Panthers eighth-grade girls basketball team celebrated a regional championship on its home floor on Friday.

The Panthers beat East St. Louis Lincoln 57-44 in the IESA Class 8-4A Regional 16 championship game at Liberty Middle School. Liberty improved to 22-0 and will play Bethalto Trimpe (23-2) in the Sectional 8 championship game at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Trimpe Middle School.

Liberty led 27-19 at halftime and 45-25 after three quarters. Sydney Harris finished with 25 points – including 14 in the first half – Macy Silvey had 13 and Elle Evans added nine to lead the Panthers.

Kaitlyn Conway, Kate Conner, Grace Daech, Kennedy Fox, Ariana Bennett, Claire Dunivan, Ashlyn Hauk, Morgan Hogue, Violet McNece and Alexis Bond round out the Liberty roster. Most of them played on last year's Liberty team that won a Class 7-4A state championship.

Char Bond and Katie Bevis-O'Neal are the coaches.

Liberty began regional tournament play on Thursday with a 43-13 win over crosstown rival Lincoln in the semifinals.

The Panthers have competed in state in the eighth-grade level four times, including a state championship in '13.